A question I get a lot from friends and relatives is about why Donald Trump never seems to pay a price for his behavior as president. He makes overt racist insults, he attacks our allies, he disparages the free press, he obstructs justice, etc., and nothing changes—his poll numbers stay the same, Republicans in Congress squirm but do nothing (and sometimes hand him legislative wins), his staffers defend him, and so forth. “How does he get away with it?,” I am often asked.
This is an important question that goes to some substantial structural features of the American system of government. Julia Azari dealt with some of this in a post over the summer, but I’d like to delve in a bit more here.
The first thing to note is that the federal government is not designed to mete out rewards and punishments to elected officials in a rapid fashion. CONT.
Seth Masket, Pacific Standard